Ginny appeared in her flat with a loud crack, and immediately fell to her knees, hyperventilating, tears streaming down her face. "Fuck," she said pitifully. "Fucking, fuck." She was at least relieved that she'd managed to hold off until she'd left Remus's. For a moment, she stared at her dangling shirt strap, transfixed as the morning replayed in her head. Letting her hair fall into her face, she choked on a sob as the scent of Harry filled her nostrils. She stood on wobbly legs and kicked the side of her chair angrily, ignoring the pain shooting into her bare toes. She deposited her things in the chair and peeled off her clothes, leaving them in a trail to the shower. She stood under cold water, numb and unblinking, silently chastising herself for making such a big deal of this.

Her mind wanted to work its way through the logic of the morning. But she shook her head, her mind was not allowed to do that. Harry Potter was back, and she got carried away in a completely unwelcome way. Well, not completely unwelcome, but unwelcome in the ways that could break her. She dried herself and dressed in a pair of denims and one of Ron's threadbare, child hood shirts. It was once dark blue, and the cotton was so well worn it bordered on sheer in the elbows and shoulders. Unbelievably soft, it was usually accompanied, on really bad days, by a glass of strawberry milk and bottomless plates of macaroni and cheese. Strawberry milk in hand, an owl she recognized as her mother's tapped on the glass. She opened the window and sighed, realizing at the thought of her Mum, that she'd utterly forgotten her manners. She found the alumni journal in the pile of things in her chair and scrawled notes to Remus, Tonks, and Hermione.

Ginny claimed her Macaroni and Cheese and settled in with the journal. Not only did it provide a good home for things she didn't want to think of but couldn't seem to keep out of her mind, but there was also harmless conversation happening inside it. Anything resembling normal, thoughtless social interaction was what she needed to keep her mind off of Harry. The journal was perfect. It meant that she didn't have to go outside and risk seeing anyone, and the Mac and Cheese was only a few feet away. After a small nap, a bit of conversation with Seamus and Stephen, two owls to Molly, both of which seemed to be a painful stretch of the imagination but she wasn't ready to talk about anything yet, Ginny stretched and braided her hair. She was thankful that she was communicating with her mother in writing, because she would've never gotten away with the lies in person.

She look around her flat and the mussed journal. Writing in it had helped a bit, but she needed to talk to a real person that didn't cause her any emotional tempests. Pulling on a loosely crocheted hat, she popped a sobering draught into her pocket and walked down Diagon Alley to the Leaky Cauldron. She felt a bit guilty about standing everyone else up, but she figured they didn't miss her.

Stephen turned to look at Luna as well, after she took ahold of his arm. The concern was welcome, and he smiled at her, shrugging a shoulder. He hoped the smile was convincing enough. "I'm fine, Luna, just a little confused and still tipsy," he explained, finishing with a bright grin. "I'll be okay."

Luna laughed, patting Stephen's arm. "That makes two of us, Stephen." She was still trying to piece together what had happened since the firewhiskey...she remembered Stephen was nice to her, and seamus was not, and then....Oh my.

Wide-eyed, she turned to Stephen, "Why do I remember calling you comfy?"

Before Luna could even acknowledge that no one had ever said they were glad to have her, more or less want to have her at all, Stephen had said she was cuddling with him! She wracked her brain for any memory of that...it should stand out relatively easily since cuddling with boys wasn't high on her frequent things to do list. Hadn't even made it on the list, to be honest.

OK, so burning liquid, nice Stephen, mad at Seamus...Oh, there it was. Right after getting mad at Seamus and calling Stephen comfy. Luna wasn't one for getting embarrassed, or for blushing...yet, she wasn't one for getting drunk and cuddling men she hadn't seen in five years, at least. OK, she was all for hugging and being a bit touchy feely, but not cuddly. People didn't cuddle Loony Lovegood, the opportunity to cuddle just hadn't presented itself as of yet. In any case, it was a day for firsts as Luna noted the sudden want to crawl under the table and the heated flush to her cheeks.

Of course, that didn't stop her from grabbing Stephen's arm once again. "Oh, Stephen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to....I mean, I'm sure you are comfy....er...I just don't normally...People don't normally want to..." Luna sighed and put her head in her hand, "I am odd, so very, very odd."

Stephen could almost see, on Luna's face, when she figured out what had happened. He laughed and felt his cheeks flush brightly as he remembered what happened. "People don't normally cuddle with me in public like that, but it's okay," he said, trying to reassure her that it really was okay. The only thing that wasn't okay was that Seamus just left the way he did. That was annoying.

"It was just as strange for me, I had both you and Seamus saying that and..." he cleared his throat and shrugged. "Blame it on the firewhiskey. That explains it all."

"Well, you were comfy..." Luna shrugged, smiling. Things were still a bit too fuzzy to sort through it all right now, but something was still not making sense.

"Why did Seamus leave?" Luna was worried she had done something to make him angry that she wasn't remembering. She remembered being mad at him, but had no idea why. "I did something..." All she sould remember was calling him a 'horrid man' and wanting to stick to Stephen.

His attention perked up when Luna mentioned Seamus. "You? No, it wasn't you," he replied, bringing a hand up to bite a nail as he usually did when uncomfortable or nervous. "I don't know why he left, but I think it was something I did." He sighed, feeling a little sad again, that Seamus left so abruptly.

"You?" Luna shook her head no, she was pretty sure that wasn't it. Of course, she had no idea why, it just didn't make sense to her so it must not be true. "No, he likes you...I think." Luna's brow furrowed, she wasn't liking this whole being unsure of things feeling. She shook it off.

She turned to look at Stephen, busy biting his nail. "You're nervous." She pointed at his nail, as if he didn't know he was chewing it. "Do I make you nervous? I make a lot of people nervous." Not that she would have done anything about it, it was just good to know.

Did he? That might explain some things, but Stephen couldn't be sure. He knew that Seamus flirted with everyone, but he didn't know if it ever meant anything or not. He attributed some of that to simply not knowing him well enough yet. "Yes, because leaving abruptly means he really, really likes me. I don't think he does and if I'm wrong, he's going about it all wrong."

When Luna pointed his habit out, he immediately stopped, very self-conscious of it. "You don't make me nervous," he said quietly, trying to shake it off. "It's not you, I promise. Actually, I feel comfortable around you."

"It doesn't make much sense, does it? But things don't usually make sense. I mean, if he liked you, he should tell you right? You'd tell him, wouldn't you?" This whole flirting, subtlety thing was lost on Luna and far too complicated in her mind.

Luna stared at Stephen wide-eyed, biting the tip of her tongue in the corner of her mouth. After a moment of seemingly hashing things out in her brain, she grabbed stphen in a big bear hug and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, Stephen!" Luna didn't make people comfortable, quite the opposite, actually, so to be told that she made this man comfortable was a bit of a shock...a good one though.

"Yeah, I..." Stephen frowned a moment, thinking it over. "I'd tell him." But would he? Stephen had no idea if he would actually tell him or not. He had no idea if he'd tell anyone, even a girl. It made him flustered to even think about it.

The hug was welcome and it made Stephen smile again. He hugged her back, tightly. She was making him feel better, but he didn't feel right telling her that. "Anytime." He was not feeling as drunk anymore, but he was still tingly and warm from the firewhiskey. "Thank you, too."

Luna was already surprised at the whole making someone feel comfortable, to be hugged back and thanked for it was over the top. It had been one strange weekend. And was far from over. Although Luna was enjoying every moment of it, she was dreading it coming to an end. No one had kept in touch after the war and after Hogwarts had shut down the first time, she had no disillusions about them keeping in touch now. Of course, in true Luna fashion, that just meant enjoying the time while it was happening.

"You're welcome, Stephen." Luna pulled back from the hug, about a moment and a half after it was obviously done. He was comfy after all. Taking a swig of her butterbeer and then resting her head in her palm. She looked up at Stephen through large and interested silver eyes, "So what have you been up to for the last five years?"

That was a loaded question. What was he supposed to say to that? It would take hours for him to go through every little detail. His own eyes widened and he sat back, picking up the bottle of butterbeer he'd been nursing earlier. "Where do you want me to start?" He smiled and took a moment to think it over.

"I moved back home right after graduation and spent some time living there to save money. I worked for my dad for a while, he's a doctor. And then I managed to move out... I worked a few jobs here and there before starting with the Ministry and this really isn't that interesting, I'm sorry." He blushed and looked away. Of all the things he could tell her about, it was money and work?

Luna sat up at the mention of the Ministry, she had been listening intently until then. "You work for the Ministry?" She hoped he was in the more reputable sections of the Ministry, but she was pretty sure he would have to be. Or at least not be aware of anything if he was in one of the shadier areas, he was just too sweet to be an active part of Rotfang or the Department of Mysteries.

"It's all very interesting, Stephen. I'm interested." And she was, very.

Stephen still wasn't convinced that it was interesting, but if she said it was, that was good enough. "If you say so. Yeah, I work for the Ministry," he replied, a little sheepish about it all. He certainly wasn't in any sort of high position in the Ministry, nothing to be proud of, so he thought. "Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. I seem to know more than most Ministry members, but no promotion yet."

He smiled, thinking he was talking way too much about himself and he was curious about Luna too. "What about you? I know about the Quibbler, obviously, but what else?"